"No fear." -- Polly, Diggory, and Eustace in Lewis' Narnia Chronicles.
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." -- FDR
"I look forward to the American people understanding the threats that are out there." -- George W. Bush, just prior to the invasion of Iraq.
"Well, as long as it's for security, I don't mind it." -- A friend, talking about a loss of civil liberties.
"Fear not..." -- The angels who appeared to humans early in the New Testament.
The characters in Narnia were using the word 'fear' in an idiomatic way, and as far as I can figure it meant 'of course!' President Roosevelt was trying to calm down the American people so that they could band together in a common cause. President Bush used the concept to get the people to band together behind his agenda. The angels were aware that their awesome appearance frightened humans, and they began their messages so that the people could hear that even in the midst of fear wondrous things can happen.
Fear is a natural part of the human package. It's there to warn us of potential harm; it sharpens our awareness and gives us energy to fight or flee. It bypasses rational thought, which is fine since in emergency situations we may not have time to evaluate. However, it can be overdone, as in 'phobia'. We can be more afraid than we have to.
We live in a world here in America where weather is predicted and broadcast to the neighborhood level, so that we can prepare for and make ourselves safe from severe weather. We have food manufacturing laws so strict that harmful foods have a hard time getting to the market (I know this point can be argued; there are regular outbreaks of salmonella, and it is arguable that many of the processed foods we buy, especially for convenience, are chock full of sodium and sugar and other things in amounts that the human body wasn't designed for. But overall, you understand my point). We have product liability to the point that safety is one of the premiere features of most products we buy. Buildings are built to withstand earthquakes and hurricanes. Really, we probably live in the safest conditions that humans ever have.
Yet we still have phobias. We have a range of anxiety disorders that are experienced and treated every day. We have a government that has played off citizen fears to wage and sustain an illegal war.
We need not fear as much as we do. If we didn't fear irrationally Mr. Bush & Co. would never have gotten their war, and more than four thousand of our troops and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis would still be alive. If we didn't fear irrationally the pharmaceutical companies would make far less in profit and have a much less powerful lobby. If we didn't fear irrationally a citizen would be able to prevail at an airport asking, "What's your probable cause for searching me?" and wait lines would go much more quickly. If I learn what types of spiders and snakes are poisonous I wouldn't have to fear the ones that aren't.
For you see, when security is the issue then the problem is insecurity. We can be insecure individually, and if enough people are individually insecure then we become collectively insecure (which goes into a book-length series of thoughts including economic forces, marketing, parenting, and social conventions that lead to insecurity). Then it is a simple matter for unprincipled leaders to take advantage of the irrational fears to accomplish their agenda. Though we do not like to admit anything good came of the Nazis, Hermann Goerring said it well that all the leaders have to do is increase fears in the public and question their patriotism and then they will follow the leaders into war.
The solution is obvious: to identify those who know how to manage fears in a healthy way and promote them to leadership positions. Ask our potential leaders: if we went to war would you be the first to lead into battle and the last to leave? Anything less is cowardice, and they would be careful to pick the right battles.
No fear!
